Cold cathode electron emission techniques in soft vacuum are presently used to perform precision electron welding. Other researchers have produced ion beams of low divergence and good intensity using a saddle field electron configuration in the plasma chamber, a cold cathode technique, without the use of extraction grids or multiple power supplies. These applications indicated that such a technique should be capable of sourcing electrons in sufficient quantity to support strong ionization of argon and other gases.
A cold cathode source is preferable to a thermionic electron emitter in a reactive atmosphere since there are no hot filaments which are subject to chemical attack and failure. An additional benefit in having no hot elements in the device allows a more diverse selection of materials of construction. Other ion beam applications which do not involve reactive chemicals profit as well, since filaments are always subject to sputter erosion and finite lifetimes.